Chapter 275 (2/2)

As the doors to the study were opened, Dengxin quietly asked, ”Master, what do you want to do here?”

Ji Man scratched her head and whispered, ”I just want to go inside and look around.”

While it was true that the more you know, the faster you'll die, Ji Man subconsciously thought; Ning Mingjie wouldn't harm her. At the very least, this man was the secondary male character. He didn't have a shadowy background, so he naturally wouldn't have any terrible secrets.

The other servant politely stood outside by the doors with Dengxin.

After taking one step inside, Ji Man saw neatly arranged books and many calligraphy scrolls hanging on the walls.

Ning Mingjie's calligraphy was very beautiful, and he had also written a lot of poems. With the exception of one calligraphy scroll, they were all simply hung up. That one scroll was hanged on the middle of the opposite wall and very carefully hanged up.

”In spring, I sleep, unaware morning is here,

From near then far, I hear trilling songbirds,

In the night's pitter-patter of winds and rains though mild,

Who know how many petals have fallen? Know not, I fear!”

Once, there had been a young man that gently smiled as he wrote this poem inside a garden pavilion. By his side, with a blus.h.i.+ng face, someone had quietly praised, ”Young Master's writing is really beautiful.”

”Really? Then, I'll give it you.”

(T/N: Poem's translation is taken from . Ji Man is thinking about what had happened in .)

Ji Man blankly stared at those words. Her heart actually felt a bit pained.

Next to that scroll, there were paintings of a beautiful woman. Or, to describe them in another way, none of them had faces. But, when Ji Man carefully looked at them, she could tell who it was.

She had never sat by a river and let Ning Mingjie paint her. Perhaps, she was imaging feelings that didn't actually exist, but that figure looked too similar to herself, especially because that figure was wearing a plum blossom hairpin. For a period of time, that plum blossom hairpin had been her favorite hairpin. Also, the figure was always painted with a plain sash around her waist and a simple douma hairstyle. This was obviously what she had been wearing during the Southern Trip.

(T/N: Below are pictures of douma hairstyle.)

Why had he painted so many pictures of her and hanged them up in his study?

Ji Man paused before she resumed looking around the study.

The treasure from Luoyan PaG.o.da's fifth floor, ”Inviting you to drink wine”, was also here. There was even that ink smudge on the first part of the poem.

Feeling as if she was fleeing from a battlefield in defeat, Ji Man ran out of the study. Just as she was about to pull Dengxin over and leave this place, she saw Ning Mingjie and Luoqi. They were slowly walking over here.

Ji Man paused. She quickly fixed her breathing and said with a faint smile. ”Didn't you say that Young Master was drunk? He looks quite clear-headed.”

Luoqi raised her head to look at her, then she looked at the study's open doors. Startled, she slightly furrowed her brow.

Ning Mingjie's cheeks were flushed red, but his eyes were especially clear. He firmly stopped five steps away from her, lightly smiled, and said, ”If I didn't say that I was drunk, I'm afraid that I wouldn't have been able to escape from there.”

”I already got the account book from Luoqi. It's not early anymore, so I should be going back now.” Ji Man saluted him and pretended that nothing had happened.

Still smiling, Ning Mingjie nodded. His expression was very calm. He was acting as if he hadn't just seen her leave the study.

As she briefly brushed past him, neither of them looked at each other. Ji Man thought; sometimes, it's better to discard strange feelings sooner rather than later.